Dimension 5150 - Driver for Sound Card

Hey i'm having serious issues with my audio...i've read previous posts and have scoured the internet for solutions...but i'm so confused... I have a Desktop Dell Dimension 5150 (about 1-1.5 years old) Sometimes my sound is detected..and sometimes it isn't (this includes both Mic and Speakers)...this has been going on for a while, but it usually clears up with a reset or two, but lately it has been getting worse. I suspect the problem has something to do with my Microphone (USB in the front port..which i use on MSN to have video conversations.) I use the speakers that came with the Dell PC, and they work fine usually (because i do hear some sound)...but i'm unable to play any sound from winamp (or listen to my uni ilectures on quicktime or Windows media player, which seems to be kindof temperamental. when i try to play an MP3 in Winamp i get the message "Bad DirectSound Driver. Please Install proper drivers or select another device in configuration. Error Code: 88780078". i have tried installing the sigmatel driver on the dell website (which made no difference)...aswell as 5.10.5258_MSXP_W_STACGUI_AC97FP.exe (as suggested on another thread)...the second driver i think reconfigured everything so that (on the PC) it registered as playing, but i couldn't get any sound out of my PC (almost like a hardware problem)...it didn't seem to work...so i did a system restore and i'm back at square one.... PLEASE HELP! i want to play music and use my mic on my PC!!

It could be a variety of things - the various media players you have, especially Quicktime can cause conflicts.

However, you can try this. Reinstall the chipset drivers, restart Windows then install the sound drivers. See if that helps.

Chipset Drivers

Sound Drivers

If this installation doesn't help, consider uninstalling Quicktime and using "Quicktime Alternative", which is less invasive and less buggy. If you want to use the QT Alternative (and you can do a google search for it) download it, then Uninstall Quicktime, restart Windows then install the QT Alternative. See if that takes care of your problems.

Strange that the chipset drives would cause anything not to work. The whole purpose of the chipset drivers is to define what is on the motherboard and if the motherboard devices are not properly defined then other devices will not work.

I have an E510, which is the US version of the 5150 and when I updated the chipset drivers it did not cause my keyboard and mouse not to work.

The chipset drivers are part of a reinstallation. for reference in case you have to do a reinstall the sequence is (1) Install Operating System (Windows) (2) Install chipset drivers (3) install device drivers such as sound and video (4) reinstall applications and backed up user data (5) install peripherals.

As far as the keyboard and mouse, try plugging them into different USB ports. Also hit F8 at boot up and it will give you a menu, one of them will be Safe Mode, that you can try, and one should be last known good configuration and you can try that.

i've been on the phone with Dell support for like 2 hours.....they werne't much help.....i think my dell is still under warrantee so like...should be ok.....but i'm havin a friend make a backup of all my files .....its kinda gotten alot worse...i'm getting blue screens...and it barely starts up into the login screen anymore......

My E510 has the Dell restore partition on it (CTRL/F11 at bootup) and that will access the restore partition and allow restoring to the original power up condition. If yours has that, it's one option. With that restore you don't need any discs and it installs all the correct drivers, etc. Just backup your user data, music, etc before you do it as it will be gone with the "recovery".